It’s always been special whenever Pakistan tours England. Starting with 2001, with 1–0 down to a two match series, Pakistan ended up winning the last test match, thanks to scrumptious spell by Saqlain in the 4th innings, to level the series. The tour of 2006, under the captaincy of Inzamam ul Haq, was nothing short of controversies. On the 4th day of the fourth test match, Pakistan were accused of ball tampering. The Umpires, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, decided to award 5 penalty runs to the opposition and a replacement of ball was offered to them. As a form of protest, the Pakistani team decided not to take the field after tea. After a brief wait, the umpires decided to remove the bails, and award the match to England. The series ended 3–0 in favor of England.

Then came the year 2010, indeed a sad year for world cricket. With the series 2–1 in favor of England, the final test match was being played when the news broke out of a possible spot fixing incident involving Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. The trio got banned from cricket and the series ended with Pakistan losing 3–1.

Misbah’s first tour to England brought a lot of fortunes for the team. The tour of 2016 is highly remembered among the fans, mostly due to the push ups celebrations after the first game. With Aamir making a return and Azhar, Asad, Misbah, Younus and Yasir all playing an important role, Pakistan managed to draw the series 2–2.

But things have certainly changed now. We no longer have services of MisYou. Neither is Yasir Shah a part of the squad. Seems like the new kids on the block have taken over. Players like Shahdab khan, Fahim Ashraf, Haris Sohail and Imam Ul Haq who share just a handful of test matches between them are all expected to play the first game at Lords.

England vs Pakistan always promises to be different. This time around both sides are relatively inexperienced, having new captains, a bunch of fresh players and recent losses in the test arena. Yet the excitement remains the same, palpable and enticing, as both teams will be hungry for a series win.

Players to watch out for
Mohammad Amir: He is a big match player who loves the attention, the media talks and big events. That’s what brings the best in him. He is returning to the place where it all went bad. He has a point to prove again. Lords is a big occasion, and he has already been talking about getting his name up again on the Lords honors board.
Azhar Ali: Backbone of the team, Pakistan would really hope he brings his ‘A’ game to this series. He hasn’t been seen in his prime form over the last 6 months, but hopefully he’s going to step up and lead the batting order.

Joe Root: With back to back series losses under his captaincy, his role as a captain has been severely scrutinized. Having a home series against a shaky Pakistan team is probably what he wanted at this moment to prove his mettle both as a captain and batsmen.
Ben stokes: First test match at home after the Bristol incident. With an unconvincing series against New Zeland and a below par IPL, he would be hungry for some limelight. Playing as the 4th seamer and a skillful lower middle order batsmen, he has what it takes to take the game away from opposition.

Verdict
Keeping optimism aside, I think it is going to be 1–0 in favor of England. Even if Pakistan is able to match their batting, the English certainly have an upper hand with their bowling. Anderson and Broad have been their seasoned bowlers along with the likes of Woakes and Stokes. Pakistan on the other hand will be solely relying on Aamir with a bit of support from Abbas. The weakness lies with the 3rd seamer be it Hassan Ali or Rahat Ali.

However all of this is nothing new. Before the last tour of England in 2016, PCB conducted a similar fitness camp held in Kakul under the supervision of Army. With most of the players failing that test, Fawad Alam emerged as one of the fittest players to have participated. Complementing his fitness was his average of 56 during the 2015/16 season of Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Just when it looked like he is a complete package, with runs under his belt, fittest of the squad and his part time bowling, he was ignored, for the reasons only known to Inzamam. The selection committee went ahead with Shan Masood, Sami Aslam and Iftikhar Ahmed. Out of the 3 new entrants, only Sami Aslam tasted some success.

This has been the story of Fawad Alam’s career. Despite having a test average of 42, he has only been able to play 3 tests in his career so far, being dropped just after 6 months of his debut. No particular reasons have justified his non selection. Inzamam ul Haq, chief selector Pakistan cricket team, who recently completed 2 years into his tenure, has diplomatically evaded this question of his non selection. When Najam Sethi, Chairmen PCB, was asked the same question, he directed it towards the chief selector. No clear answers were given.

Not being selected for the England tour of 2016 still had a mere justification, as at that time the team had the services of Misbah, Younus, Azhar, Asad and Hafeez well established in the team. But with a couple of slots opening up in the middle order with Misbah and Younus retiring after the West Indies series 2017, and Hafeez being dropped, his selection sounded absolutely. But yet again the selectors dint fail to surprise the fans, he wasn’t named in the squad, without any reasons.

His ODI career has not been any different. Been criticized heavily for his inability to clear the boundary with ease, he still has successfully managed a career strike rate of 75, which has been higher than Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali and Misbah Ul Haq. So why do you need the six hitting capability when you can rotate the strike so well? Babar Azam certainly does not possess one, still maintains a strike rate of 84.
Despite playing a lot more ODI’s than his test toll, he was wasted playing at number 6, a position usually kept for a pinch hitter. His strength always lied in rotating the strike, running hard between the wickets and picking out gaps in the field, something a batmen in the middle order right after power play needs to do. Yet despite having him in the team, we wasted him and eventually dropped him.

Not known for hard hitting, he surprisingly went on to play 24 T-20’s for Pakistan with a career strike rate of 115. Who else has the same strike rate? The attacking, aggressive, hard hitting opening batsmen, who plays in the power play, Ahmed Shehzad! But the bigger surprise was him not being included in the draft of PSL. With low to moderate scoring games in Dubai, Karachi Kings going for a team of all-rounders in the initial season and looking for strike rotators, Lahore Qalandars getting bowled out on 59 in season 2 and struggling for a middle order batsmen even in the 3rd season, nobody seems to recall his name. On the contrary, Darren Bravo, who has a career strike rate of 112, and occupies a slot of a foreign player was not only picked, but given a few games as well. Ironic, no?

There seems to be a bigger issue. It’s not the fitness, domestic scores, International experience or his inability. It seems that he has triggered someone in the board. Someone who has a lot of say in the running of the show. Somebody up there does not like him. Because nothing else explains it. And he’s not the only one on that path. Sadaf Hussain, if you remember the name, has had a similar road map. No justifications at all!

Despite all of it, his zest for cricket is never ending. “Everything happens according to God’s will. My faith is strong. If I say I’m not disheartened I’d be lying to myself” As he spoke to the reporters, looking at the ground not being able to make eye contact. He continues to perform on the field and off the field, silencing his critics for the longest of times. If persistence had a face, it would’ve been Fawad Alam.

With the squad announcement likely to be made very soon for series against Ireland/England, it is about time Fawad Alam gets his chance. The tour to Ireland/England will be tough. It will be early summers so expecting a lot of seam movement and swinging conditions, to which subcontinent batsmen are vulnerable. Hoping he not just gets selected but gets a long run in the test team to prove his critics wrong. He still is 32, and with the standards of fitness he maintains, he can easily go on to play for another 5 years. Probably too much to ask for. Fingers crossed.

The media erupted. As a Pakistani fan, for a moment it felt like déjà vu of August 2010 spot fixing scandal. It had some similarities to this event. Number of people involved, 3. Prime suspect, a youngster who was made a scapegoat. Entire world bashing you? Ye sir. Captain involved? Hell yeah!
Doesn’t just end here, when the Australian board banned Smith and co for a year, some people actually started comparing the punishments of the spot fixing scandal to this.

Now the basic difference that people who’re comparing fail to understand is that spot fixing is illegal, it is a criminal offence, something that is done against cricket for your individual monetary benefit. On the other hand, ball tampering is the closest thing that has come to being legitimized in cricket with many ex cricketers vouching for it to be made part of cricket. It is still illegal but in today’s term it’s like claiming a catch that you know you dropped it, simple. Furthermore, while spot fixing is done for your personal monetary benefits, this however was sort of a ‘nationalist action’, making sure that your side wins, even if you have to adopt some of the illegal ways. Smith wouldn’t have had a big pay day had he succeeded.

But by no means I am trying to justify the actions of Smith and co. It was wrong. However the way the world reacted including the media, ex cricketers, Australian board, their government, cricket fans is something probably even Smith wouldn’t have imagined when on the eve of the press conference he decided not to give up his captaincy after accepting he was guilty. But the way they were treated, especially the videos that emerged of security trying to escort them off the airport, were literally heart breaking for any cricket fan. For God’s sake, they weren’t criminals!

Now if what they did was not such a big deal, why did the world react like that? Well partly, it was because Aussies were involved. Australian cricketers have been known as arrogant, with their bossy attitude and assuming a superiority level above others. “I have been bitterly disappointed watching the Australian cricket team over the last few years. The behavior has been boorish and arrogant.” is what Micky Arthur, Australian ex-coach had to say about the team culture.
It’s not just the current team, with the likes of Ian Chappel, Mcgrath, Ponting, Symonds, Hayden, and Warne it has been like that since forever. However the Aussies have been exemplary in making sure they don’t leave out any traces. They’ve never let the world question their game play. But once the world saw an opening, those who’ve been waiting hungrily just dived in. On the top of the list were the Englishmen, who took all their frustrations of losing Ashes out on them.

What caused the outrage?
More than the incident itself, I think it was the press conference that did the damage. The way Smith came out and accepted he was guilty and knew all about it since inception took the fans by a surprise. Had he delayed the press conference, denied the charges at first, had been through a couple of inquiries and then proven guilty, I think people would’ve accepted that far easily.
Sadly, that is the reality. The world is not ready for a person bluntly accepting all the charges against him, too good to be true.

The Australian Board handed out a 1 year ban for Smith & Warner and a 9 month ban on Brancroft. The punishment was harsh, but Australian cricket board has set some high standards for themselves when it comes to discipline. Remember Andrew Symonds? A perfect all-rounder, great fielder, playing all 3 formats, at the top of his game, left out to be never selected again for off field disciplinary issues. Not just him, Shane Warne, being sent back a few hours before Australia played their first game of World Cup 2003, and banned for a year after he failed an internal drug test. It was ACB’s drug test that he failed to clear, not ICC’s. The board clearly doesn’t take anything from players!

The players carried out their expected emotional press conferences. However most of them looked scripted, to gain back some of people’s sympathies, damage control.

Now that it’s all over, Smith and Warner have both lost their IPL contracts for this year, Warner further losing out on the dream to captain Australia ever again. With the passage of time, people will forget about it, and all of these players will make a comeback in the team after serving their respected bans. However an incident like this has been a reality check for every team in the world. Next time a player would have to probably think twice before doing something similar, as the Australian Cricket Board has set a harsh benchmark as its repercussion.

On his retirement, I wrote a few words about him, his career and his achievements.

‘He took charge of this team when everyone had turned their back on it. Making a comeback in the test team as a captain which had been recently hit by the spot fixing case with 2 of your best bowlers and a consistent opening batsman banned.

He took charge of this team which had 1 series win (Home series against West Indies) out of 11 during 2006–2010. We criticized him when he showed reservations and opted out for chasing 100 runs of 15 overs with 7 wickets in hand against South Africa, Keeping a long term approach in mind and focusing more on team stability rather than the results, To a surprise which clearly was NOT a Pakistani mindset (Read Afridi mindset).

He took charge of this team and led it to their first away series win in Newzeland after a gap of 8 years. The team might have been young under him but was surely more disciplined than the ODI or T20 team. The results became more impressive.
Whitewashing number 1 ranked team in the world, who could’ve thought of it. And then Australia followed and fell in the same trap, a series win against them after 20 good years.

The same team that opted out chasing against South Africa chased down 302/5 in 57 overs for a series draw in Abu Dhabi later to chase a historic total of 382 runs in 103 overs against Srilanka in Srilanka to win the series 2–1. The world was astonished.
The same captain who we referred as ‘Tuk-Tuk’, who never scored a century in his ODI career, became the first ever Asian captain to win an ODI series against South Africa, in South Africa. Who else couldn’t do it? Ganguly, Wasim, Jayasuria, Dhoni to name a few…
He took charge of this team which had been deprived of cricket on its home ground, in front of its home crowd and supporters since the last 9 years yet with losing only 3 series out of the 19 during his tenure, he stands today as the most successful test captain of Pakistan.

Ranked as number 1 Test team on the ICC Ranking was indeed a proud moment and a clear reflection of true hard work put in by the entire team for the last 5–6 years, led by a true leader.
Thank you Misbah for giving us all those cherishing memories and for all what you’ve done for this team and this country. The nation is owes you one.
#KingMisbah’

I personally think with his caliber, Afridi could’ve only played as a bowler in any side, especially after Woolmer worked on his bowling. For someone who justifies his position in the team as a bowler, his batting should’ve always been considered as a plus point, not as a matter of his selection or expectations. Yes he had an ‘Afridi’ mindset, he might have been able to do much more with his batting if he had a stable head, but being ‘Afridi’, he was always a hit or miss, loved being the center of attention.

As a captain, the team had unity under him, they bonded well together and he as the captain was an inspiration in the field. He almost won the WC 2011 for you (Thats another debate as to what happened). On the negative side, as a captain he believed in himself a bit too much. Taking reviews on his own bowling where they were not required, bowling him under conditions where other bowlers could’ve done much better, or having an off day but still continuing to back himself for bowling more. Part of it.

People that criticize him for his batting, generally overlook the fact that he brought balance to the side. Someone who could bowl a quota of full 10 overs, and bat a bit. Once he retired, the balance of the team was no more there. You either had to play a full bowler to get 10 overs done, compromising on a batting slot or you had to bowl your part timers to get those 10 overs, we as a team did the latter. Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail and co were given the bowl to complete a quota of 10 overs, which did not work too well in our favor.

It was post his retirement that we collapsed in ODI rankings. Losing to Bangladesh, England, Newzeland and Australia within a year.
With the balance he provided to the team, he would’ve done a lot well in test cricket as well had he had a bit firm mindset. Primarily on oversees tours where you play 3 pacers and a spinner, he would’ve perfectly complemented the main spinner, along with being able to bat a bit. ​

People that compare him as a captain to Misbah or Younus don’t do justice to him. Each of them had a different style of leading, brought a different kind of energy to the team and had different mindset on how to go for a game. Can compare the results, not the method.

He was always the attention seeker, always wanted to be in the news, for the good reasons or the bad. Be it his numerous retirements, his charity work, his blunt replies on tweets, biting the ball or the latest, being the ISI agent!. He made sure that when he scored the world watched him. He would never score a 30 ball 30. That was too mainstream. Even when the team required exactly that, it was too mainstream. That was part of the ‘Afridi’ mindset, came with the package, like it or not.

He still has been one of the greatest entertainer of all time. He started of this before it was common. When scoring 250 in the ODI seemed to be safe, when a batsmen who had a strike rate of 100 was wow, when T20 was not even in the planning, Afridi was Afridi!